


Stumble On Tomorrow

by backinthebox



Series: Welcome To The Lodge At Fallen Leaves [3]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-24 00:39:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6135493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/backinthebox/pseuds/backinthebox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Impending graduation has a way of making people wonder what happens next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stumble on Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that she and Aubrey were finding their footing again as best friends and not just by rote or title, Chloe was bursting with rainbow-colored, fruit-flavored happiness for Aubrey and Stacie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written because Fruith asked why Aubrey gave Stacie such specific instructions in Track In On This Feeling, and I wanted to explore the Stacie/Chloe friendship in the Fallen Leaves universe.

"This isn't going to work."

At the frank declaration that effectively interrupted what should have been a lazy afternoon in the Barden Bellas' house, those who were in the living room of the house and heard the statement glanced at each other and silently debated among themselves who would take the bait.

Since the person who had spoken was Chloe, and it was most probably about the World Championships of Acapella, the responsibility fell upon her Bellas co-captain, prompting Beca to mutter audibly to her friends, "I hate you all." She looked up at Chloe. "What are you talking about, Chloe?"

"This." Chloe gestured vaguely around her, although none of them could figure out what she meant to implicate. When the red-haired girl noticed the laid-back atmosphere of the living room, the part of her that lived with Aubrey Posen as her college roommate for four years kicked in. "Why isn't anybody doing anything? Worlds is literally just around the corner, and does anybody think DSM are just sitting in their living rooms and enjoying their afternoon? I don't think so." She shook her head. "Do we even have our itinerary yet? Tickets, hotels, badge passes to the site?"

There was nothing, and then Ashley, Cynthia Rose, Emily, Flo and Lilly collectively got to their feet, quickly making a beeline out of the living room, with each one saying something about checking their emails.

With the five gone, it left Beca to face the wrath of Beale.

Beca fidgeted, her eyes darting anywhere else but at Chloe. "So… I guess the organizers aren't doing that for us?"

"Us, yes." Chloe nodded. "But the part that's going to make your Hail Mary plan work? No."

Beca bit her lip. "So I should…" She hedged.

"Get on that." Chloe looked at her pointedly.

"Get on that. Right. Yeah." Beca nodded, and turned to leave. As she took a step towards the kitchen, she paused, reconsidering her plan, before she turned abruptly and headed towards the staircase.

The problem with venting out her frustrations on people, Chloe came to realize, was that after the initial onslaught, and people went to do what she wanted, there was nobody left to vent to. And with Worlds, and graduation, and the fact that the very thing she had initially worried about – that she would graduate and fail to have concrete plans for the future – was very much a reality, Chloe found herself needing to vent; but without an adequate outlet, could only pace the living room.

Fortunately (for Chloe, not so much for the other girl), Stacie entered the Bella house, pleased as punch and eager to reward herself with a free Friday and maybe some outdoor fun (that's actually indoors in an outdoor retreat). Humming to herself, occasionally letting a lyric or two out (" _I forget myself, I want you to remind me_ "), Stacie was blissfully ignorant to the storm of frustration waiting for her in the living room. After taking a detour to the kitchen – where Jessica and Ashley tended to study, or Emily or Cynthia Rose to be cooking something – Stacie walked into the living room, her expression confused. When she sighted Chloe, her humming faded, and she smiled at her. "Hey, Chloe. Where's everyone?"

"Where have you been?" Chloe demanded.

"Class…?" Stacie answered, confused, as she drew out her answer wondering what she had just walked in on.

"Finals are next week!"

"And all the more reason to attend them?" Stacie surmised, stepping back.

"You've been on the dean's list your entire college career!"

"I like labs," Stacie shrugged. She eyed Chloe warily. "What's up with you?"

"We have no itinerary, no flight details or hotel accommodations, I'm worried Fat Amy or Lilly will have some weird INTERPOL alert on their passports," Chloe started, "Beyoncé keeps losing Video of the Year to lesser videos, as if there's a talent in the world that exists that's greater than Beyoncé, and Kanye can and should interrupt anyone that dares to prove otherwise, Angelina Jolie isn't adopting anymore, and the success or failure of the Bellas at Worlds is hinged on Emily's songwriting, which, to say is untested, is a gross understatement." Chloe ranted to Stacie, all in a remarkable show of breath control.

Stacie hesitated, and then asked: "You didn't happen to submit your final paper for Russian Lit today, did you?"

Chloe, who was still recovering from her verbal onslaught, glanced at Stacie. "As a matter of fact, yes. Why do you ask?"

Stacie nodded as understanding dawned on why Chloe's emotions were in disarray. "Nothing."

"That's all you have to say for yourself?"

Stacie shrugged. "It's an emotional time."

Chloe frowned, displeased at Stacie's apparent disinterest: did the girl not know just what it meant for Chloe to have even _submitted_ that final paper? Of course, it was now up to her professor to give her a final grade, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't dare give her anything other than a passing grade. "No empty platitudes? No words of joy and hope and 'reach for the stars'?"

"Did you want any of those?" Stacie asked.

Chloe pouted.

"Because I've been dating Aubrey for over a year, so I've learned from a master, and I could probably whip up empty platitudes like a pro at this point." Stacie offered.

"No, it's OK." Chloe waved off the offer. "But thanks for offering."

"Sure." Stacie watched for a moment, making sure Chloe wouldn't descend into another round of madness, before venturing, "So… where _is_ everyone?"

"Hiding, probably." Chloe answered, taking a seat on the couch facing the fireplace. "I kind of went off on them earlier."

Stacie nodded slowly, and sat down on the opposite end of the same couch. "You want to talk about it?"

Chloe shook her head. "I think it just hit me, on my way here." She glanced at the ceiling, wondering if she should go and apologize to the girls she had driven away from the living room.

"Yeah, graduation. Pretty big deal." Stacie agreed, but didn't say more on the matter.

"It really is." Chloe nodded. She leaned back to rest her head against the back of the couch, looking up at the ceiling. "I mean, it's been three years and I still don't know what I'm going to do after I graduate."

"Teach music to underprivileged children," Stacie reminded, calling back Chloe's declaration from their retreat a few weeks prior.

Chloe waved her hand dismissively. "Sure, but _how do I get there_."

Stacie smiled wryly. "I know someone who gets paid to provide career counseling, want me to give my girlfriend a call?"

At Stacie's second mention of Aubrey in so many sentences, Chloe glanced at her. "What are you going to do about graduation?"

Stacie gave her a puzzled look. "'Do'?"

"Stacie, we all know you're going to MIT." Chloe reminded. "Remember? It got lost in the celebration of the Trebles winning the ICCAs, but we _did_ do a toast for yours and Ashley's post-graduation plans." Both girls were planning to go to graduate school, Stacie in Boston and Ashley in Louisiana.

"Then why ask?" Stacie queried.

"You know." Chloe tilted her head to and fro. "Aubrey."

Stacie hesitated. "What about Aubrey?"

"The fact that you'll be in Boston and she'll be in the middle of the woods?" Chloe reminded.

Stacie looked away, deliberately avoiding Chloe's curious gaze. Sure, she and Aubrey had their plans, but Aubrey had told her to keep the information on hold until she needed it in case of Chloe having a breakdown. Mere minutes earlier, Stacie had been ready to divulge the truth, but Chloe seemed to have calmed down since. "Well, uh…"

"Hey, Chloe, do you know if Denmark's weather is like ours right now, or–" Beca entered the living room, a guidebook about Denmark in hand.

"I failed Maps!" Chloe snapped, prompting an alarmed Beca to make a U-turn and head back upstairs.

Stacie frowned at Chloe, and drew out her next statement, hesitatingly. "You're not a Foreign Studies major."

Chloe looked at her in question.

"You've never taken a Geography class." Stacie pointed out.

"So?"

"So you're a filthy liar who's never failed Maps!" Stacie accused.

"You kept your relationship with Aubrey a secret! For months!" Chloe returned.

Stacie faltered. "What does that-"

Chloe threw her hands up. "Nothing! I just wanted to have something to throw back at you."

Stacie stared at her, entertaining the possibility that _Aubrey_ had been the sane one in her friendship with Chloe, before she shook her head, clearing it, because _no way_.

Chloe whined. "I'm sorry! It's just I realized how much easier life was with Aubrey calling all the shots, and Beca suddenly going from avoiding me to referring to me at every opportunity is freaking me out. And now with graduation, and finals next week…"

"You're not taking a single exam next week." Stacie reminded.

"Why are you being annoyingly factual today?" Chloe asked.

Stacie shrugged. "Had a meeting with the dean today. Better one than last time, too. Depending on my exams, I might graduate with honors."

"That's great!"

Stacie grinned. "Right?"

"That's amazing, Stacie." Chloe told her, giving her a quick hug. And it _was_ amazing, considering the fact that throughout Stacie's freshman year in Barden, she was mostly known as the hypersexual member of the Bellas who had introduced herself as having her hobbies and interests focused mainly on the E! network and cuticle care. Chloe pulled back, and glared at Stacie. "But you're not getting away with not answering my question."

"Look at the time. Have to go."

Chloe grabbed the escaping girl's wrist. "You're not wearing a watch."

"Why does that work for Aubrey?" Stacie wondered under her breath, and reluctantly returned to her seat.

"She wears a watch." Chloe reminded.

"That's one reason." Stacie pouted.

Chloe didn't release Stacie from her vice-like grip. "We all know how unhappy you both were when you were more than a couple of hours' drive apart. How are you going to handle it when you're in Boston?"

"I know it wasn't… preferable," Stacie hedged.

Chloe narrowed her eyes at Stacie in suspicion and deliberation, wondering if this was going to be the moment she was going to have to turn against Stacie to defend her best friend. Since she and Aubrey had been on the outs for most of Aubrey's relationship with Stacie, Chloe had never felt herself to be in the position to have any kind of opinion on the goings-on of their relationship. But in the past few weeks, having repaired most of the damage of her friendship with Aubrey, if Stacie said anything that made Chloe believe she was anything less than fully committed to her relationship with Aubrey, there were going to be words. And maybe some hair-pulling.

Except… Chloe paused to reconsider her stance. Stacie had never been the one who hedged her bets about her relationship with Aubrey. Stacie had been the one who pursued the older girl, had been the one to force Aubrey to acknowledge their relationship, as something more than scheduled romantic rendezvous, and as a public entity with the rest of the Barden Bellas. Stacie had been the one who coerced Ashley and Jessica to keep her in line and keep the hunter in check to avoid risking Aubrey's jealous streak from activating, and to avoid jeopardizing their relationship, despite its label as an open relationship. It was _Aubrey_ who took forever to step up.

Chloe's expression cleared, her eyes widening at the conclusion she drew. "She's moving with you to Boston?"

Stacie gaped at her. How the hell did Chloe make that logical leap and come to the correct conclusion?

Chloe gasped. "And she didn't tell me?"

Because it was all about Chloe today, apparently.

Chloe paused, going through a vast array of emotions regarding this update, and then squealed. "You're moving in together! That's amazing! Did you ask-? No, Aubrey would be the one to… or not. Did she-? Oh, what is she going to do there? What about The Lodge? Did she know when she offered me to…? Do you have a place picked out? Aubrey's always struck me as either a ludicrously expensive penthouse or vast mansion person, have you seen her family's house? Are you just moving in, or is this step one-?"

"Whoa!" Stacie cut in abruptly, stopping the flow of words from Chloe and ending the direction of that last particular question. "Whoa."

"This is just so exciting." Chloe gushed. "Look at you two, moving on and moving in together."

Stacie smiled, pleased, because a part of her had always wondered if Chloe approved of her relationship with Aubrey at all, given her reputation and the fact that the relationship had started and grown while Aubrey and Chloe's friendship floundered.

And it had been awkward and difficult, trying to tread the line between being a friend to both of them and juggling her responsibilities as Aubrey's girlfriend while also keeping the peace with the girl she saw and lived with every day. When Stacie's room in the house was turned into their storage room for the Bellas' growing collection of costumes, and Chloe was the only one with space to spare in hers, there had been a moratorium of sorts when it came to Aubrey. Chloe liked to joke about it now, but it had been weird to finally have Aubrey back in the Bellas' lives, after such a long period of emotional distance, while knowing she was there because of _Stacie_. And the fact that whenever Aubrey was present, Stacie liked to lock themselves up in their room really couldn't have helped with Chloe's goodwill about the relationship.

But the truth of the matter was that she _had_ been happy for them. It had sucked that she and Aubrey couldn't get over themselves and just fix the ever-widening gulf between them, but Chloe hadn't been blind to the fact that Aubrey and Stacie obviously made each other happy.

So now? Now that she and Aubrey were finding their footing again as best friends and not just by rote or title, but actually being each other's hand to hold and shoulder to cry on? Yeah, she was going to be a pain in the ass bursting with rainbow-colored, fruit-flavored happiness for Aubrey and Stacie.

"She's applied to business school," Stacie explained. "She'll still run The Lodge, but the day-to-day will be assigned to two managers."

"And Boston, was that a coincidence, or…" Chloe started, but Stacie blushed, making Chloe squeal again. "That minx! I'm gonna… That's adorable. You're adorable. You two.

"Oh, you are going to have so much fun!" Chloe exclaimed, grinning widely at Stacie. "She's a pain in the ass as a roommate, like, eighty percent of the time, but she'll probably welcome you barging in on her showers and you can shut her up with sex, so maybe more like fifty, for you?"

Yes, Stacie knew about Chloe's propensity for walking in while people were in the shower, having been victim to the weird habit as well, but she supposed she just hadn't been as good in harmonizing as Chloe's previous shower buddies, because it had only happened to her twice in the two years they had shared a bathroom.

"But, oh, she makes french toast and omelettes like nobody's business." Chloe continued. "That, and stir-fry. Really, it's unfair how she can whip something up given what she can find in a fridge. But never let her order for takeout, she'll order, like, the same five things every time. And don't get me started on her pizza order."

Stacie laughed. "I've managed to convince her on the virtues of pepperoni, so the days of the boring cheese pizzas are over."

"You are a gift." Chloe complimented her. "At least she isn't so uptight about groceries anymore. She was awful our first year: in the dictionary, her face used to be under the term penny-pincher."

"A regular income tends to do that." Stacie allowed.

"Oh, and whatever she says, always make her do the laundry." Chloe told her. "Do whatever it takes, as long as she does the laundry."

Of course, Chloe's method of making Aubrey meet that end was to not do the laundry _at all_ , resulting on many occasions of borrowing – Aubrey called it stealing – Aubrey's clothes and forcing the blonde to do the laundry just to keep Chloe away from her closet.

Stacie nodded. "I know, right? Like how do the clothes smell that much better when she does them? And have less wrinkles? It's crazy."

Chloe nodded. "And who needs to wash the dishes right after meals? Like, chill, right?"

Stacie shrugged. "I wash and she rinses."

Pause.

A pause that grew into a lengthy silence, the statement having far reaching implications than Stacie expected.

Chloe frowned deeply, brow wrinkled in thought, as if trying to figure something out.

Stacie, realizing far sooner her mistake, made to leave but forgot about Chloe's grip on her wrist, which tightened considerably.

"You…" Chloe began, searching for words – kinder, less judgmental words – but came up short. "You've lived with Aubrey before."

"I wouldn't say-" Stacie's offhand response was cut short by Chloe's glare, and she admitted, "We've been dating for two years. I've stayed at her place plenty of times."

Chloe narrowed her eyes, before bringing out her phone and keying in number one on her speed dial. The moment the call was picked up, Chloe barked, "When were you going to tell me you were having domesticated sex with Stacie?"

Really, stunned silence was the only expected response.

Stacie reached over, and grabbed the phone from Chloe. "Hey, babe. Breathe. Oxygen is your friend. Yeah, I just told her. She turned in her Lit paper. Yeah. Mmhmm, yeah, she figured a few additional things to it." A pause, as Stacie snuck a glance at a still-infuriated Chloe. "She'll be fine. She was pretty thrilled, until that epiphany. I didn't know she didn't know." Another pause. "Well, I thought it obvious we weren't just doing it all the time, you know, after the first few… yeah." Stacie listened, then nodded. "What? Yeah, I'm gonna try to catch the first bus out, I don't want either of us waiting at the stop at night. The meeting went OK: depending on final exams and my final grade, I could be running for cum laude." She bit her lower lip before asking, "You're gonna come to graduation, right?" She glanced quickly at Chloe before she turned away, her voice dropping to a sultry tone, " _semper vos vere volo_ 'cum laude'."

Chloe quickly grabbed her phone back, and wiped the surface against the edge of her dress. "That's gross, you two, whatever gross thing you just said." Although context clues and the obvious homophonic pun were telling.

Stacie laughed, and called out to Chloe's phone. "I'll see you tomorrow, Aubrey."

Chloe waved her away, having released the girl earlier, and turned her attention back to her phone. "My phone just killed itself with embarrassment, you know."

Aubrey laughed. "You don't even understand Latin, I'm sure neither does Siri."

"Do I want to—"

"No."

"No, of course not." Chloe quickly agreed, taking Aubrey's word for it. "Nice time to spring that factoid, though, considering we were _just_ hanging out at The Lodge so very recently."

"I told her to save it for a rainy day when you were freaking out." Aubrey said plainly. "Were you freaking out?"

"What? No." Chloe lied.

"Uh huh." Aubrey said dryly. "Beca's sent me five messages in the past few minutes all including the phrase 'I'd ask Chloe but she's freaking out'."

"That tattletale." Chloe muttered. Finally, she conceded. "Maybe I kind of was a little, earlier. Freaking out."

"Well, you're not anymore, right?"

"I was calming down fine before Stacie's bombshell that should have been yours to tell me, just FYI."

"Sure." Aubrey allowed.

Chloe settled in her seat, finding a comfortable position, and asked, "But now that I have you on the phone: Fill me in on you shacking up with Stacie, both past and future."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the Latin is frakked up, blame Google Translate.


	2. All The Things That's Been and Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Graduation: Aubrey and Chloe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my take on the prompt left by Fruith.

Everybody always said that high school were the best years of your life. Whether or not they were being honest or sarcastic about it, she didn't know, because high school hadn't been much of anything to her. Sure, she'd been popular, and had been friends with pretty much the entire student population, but those were people she had grown up with, and could she really say there had been anything particularly life-changing or significant about her time in high school? When she graduated, she didn't look back, and hadn't really kept in touch with the friends she'd had there.

Now, college. College was a different story. For Chloe Beale, _college_ , and Barden University, had been the best seven years of her life.

Yes, something happened after the first four years that had made her stick around for an extra three, more than the fear of graduation and moving on, of leaving the safe haven of Barden and the Barden Bellas; graduation had been paralyzing in how daunting the prospect was. But for all those years she'd had the Barden Bellas, a group of girls with whom she had grown up, had learned who she was, and figured out what she was capable of. The Bellas had been her family, her home, for seven years, and with graduation she would be leaving that behind.

And, here she was. Up at too-damn-early on the morning of graduation day, vacillating between trepidation and excitement.

Chloe glanced at the other bed in the room beside her own, where Stacie was fast asleep, and sighed. She wished she had someone to talk to.

As if on cue, her phone rang. Quickly answering it as to not disturb her roommate, she pressed the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"What are you doing awake at this hour?"

"Says the girl who called me." Chloe quickly shot back, grinning happily at the sound of her best friend's voice. Funny how going nearly two years with only the rare phone call could make her miss someone's voice. "It's graduation day. What's your excuse?"

"Something blew up in one of the cabins." Aubrey answered. Her voice took on an apologetic tone. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

"I know nothing about things that blow up." Chloe paused, then grinned. "Other than you."

"Hahahaha." Aubrey said dryly, and Chloe could hear a cacophony of sounds on Aubrey's end of the phone call. "So funny. Maybe you should do stand-up. Do jokes while doing some exotic dancing. That job offer still stands, by the way."

Chloe held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, unable to locate her hands-free headset, and put on her bathrobe. "Why are you calling?"

"Catastrophe at The Lodge." Aubrey started. "And, well, there's a good chance that maybe Stacie won't kill you when you tell her..."

Chloe stopped abruptly, one foot in her slippers and the other not quite there yet. "You won't be here this afternoon."

"Doesn't look like it, no."

Chloe frowned. "Oh."

"I'm sorry, Chloe."

"No, it's..." It wasn't fine. She had spent the first four years of college with Aubrey, and the blonde had been her first real best friend, and was still the person she trusted the most.

And she wasn't going to be present at the culmination of Chloe's college life.

Aubrey always said that Chloe was generous and selfless, but in that moment, Chloe wanted to be selfish beyond reason, and demand Aubrey to show up, that there were at least a dozen other people at The Lodge at Fallen Leaves who could attend to whatever was happening there.

"So..." Aubrey was utterly transparent in her desperation to move past the awkward silence. "What are you doing up?"

"I don't know. Excited, I guess." Chloe said, her voice a little more subdued than it had been earlier in the phone call.

If Aubrey noticed, she didn't give voice to it. "Have you seen the cap and gown?"

"Yeah."

"Is it still that unflattering shade of green?"

"Yup. Same as when you wore it." Chloe told her.

Followed by another awkward silence, because that was a cruel reminder of how, when Aubrey had graduated, Chloe had been there for her.

Chloe cleared her throat. "Stacie got honor cords."

"Yeah, she told me."

"You know, between the two of you, science should really figure out how to get two women to form a child. Because I'd vote for your offspring to become President."

"Who will probably either grope herself onstage or puke her guts out."

"Woman with a plan, though." Chloe noted, making her way out of the bedroom she shared with Stacie and paused at the stairway that led to the third floor loft, where Beca and Amy stayed. Hearing only the low sound of music, she continued her way downstairs. "Stacie told me you've decided to go to Harvard business school?"

"Oh, did she?" Aubrey laughed. "I literally _just_ got the investment offer that's going to help pay for Harvard."

"You are so whipped." Chloe laughed as well, knowing the reasons why Stacie had made the executive decision to start telling people that Aubrey would be going to Harvard, one of which was the fact that Aubrey had actually been accepted to its undergraduate program years ago, but her father hadn't thought she had enough will or perseverance to see it through, or to succeed in such a competitive environment. "I'm graduating and you're going back to school. That's just weird."

"I hate having to listen to these MBAs who treat me like I don't know anything, you know?"

"Oh, does it suck to have your ideas shot down because they think they know more than you?" Chloe asked sarcastically.

There was a pause, then, "you know, I have a feeling you're trying to convey something relevant to our lives, but for the life of me I can't tell what it is."

A beat, before they both started laughing.

Still laughing, Chloe declared, "I can't believe you're gonna move to Boston."

"Trust me, the part of me that's a Southern gal can't believe it, either."

"Good thing your girlfriend's from the Mid-Atlantic. Let her keep you warm at night."

"Yeah." Aubrey paused. "Did you know she thinks everything south of DC counts as the South?"

"Break up with her. Break up with her right now." Chloe joked, feigning offense. Being born and raised in Florida, she felt Aubrey's South Carolina-based indignation keenly.

"Right?" Aubrey laughed.

"Have you explained to her what the Deep South is?"

"I tried, but..." Aubrey's voice trailed off.

Chloe couldn't help but chuckle. "Let me guess. Your Geography lesson turned into an Anatomy lesson?"

"In my defense, if Stacie Conrad wants to give you an Anatomy lesson and teach you about the Deep South, you let her."

"Is that permission?" Chloe teased.

"Oh, funny. So funny." Aubrey deadpanned. "Too bad humor's not part of the Bellas' set for Worlds, you'd kill it over DSM."

Chloe made a face, settling on one of the couches in the living room. "Don't remind me."

"It's a good set, Chloe." Aubrey was quick to assure.

"I'm still worried about the technicality."

"Chloe. I read the rules. Do you trust me?"

"You know I do." Chloe smiled. "Especially when it comes to rules."

"Exactly. Then you know it's above board." Aubrey reassured her.

Chloe, who had been about to confirm her trust in Aubrey, was startled by a loud car horn on Aubrey's end of the line. "What was that?"

"Uh," Aubrey paused. "I guess the repair guy's not happy with being woken up this early."

"Don't you have two engineers in your staff?"

"And we still called a technician, can you believe it?" Aubrey exclaimed.

"I'm just glad Lilly's in Engineering. Between her and Cynthia Rose, we never had to call a technician around here." Chloe took a moment, and glanced around the living room, at the place she had called home for three years, and then sighed deeply. "Did you feel like this?"

"Frightened and unsure of the future?" Aubrey guessed, that deep sigh coming through the line loud and clear. "Yes."

"What made you get past it?"

"A job that wouldn't wait." Aubrey admitted. "I did everything I thought I would in the four years I was in Barden. We won the ICCAs, I wasn't just the girl who puked at the Lincoln Center anymore. I loved being in Barden, even that nightmare of a year with Alice as Bellas captain, but there was always a world outside. You're right, when we were talking back at The Lodge: each step was always leading somewhere. But that's true regardless. You just need to decide where you want to go."

Chloe smiled. "When did you become so philosophical?"

Aubrey groaned in response. "One of the companies we had early on insisted on a meditation guru. Which of course the crew themselves had to be acquainted with."

Chloe laughed. "Did Aubrey Posen do yoga? Please tell me you did yoga."

"Consider me aca-freaking-enlightened."

Chloe burst out laughing, startling herself, and instantly tried to quiet down, remembering that nobody else in the house was awake. "You did yoga!"

"The upside is that I now know that those rumors about tantric sex? Actually true."

Chloe's laughter immediately died. "God! Gross, Aubrey! I don't need to know that about you."

"Did I say I know that firsthand? No."

"Yeah, but, come on. You're sleeping with Stacie. I've been kept out of our room when you'd be in town, you know. Not fun. And there's a reason why we banned you two from having sex in the house." Chloe groaned. "I hate you so much right now."

"Wait, that's why I have to find accommodations when I visit her in Barden?"

"Yes."

A pause, then Aubrey gave a murmur of agreement. "Good call."

Chloe groaned.

"So what's the plan, Beale? What happens to Chloe Beale after graduation?"

"You mean after winning Worlds?"

Aubrey laughed. "Yes. After winning Worlds."

"I was hoping for some R&R at The Lodge at Fallen Leaves."

"Oh, were you?"

"I heard there's a spa _and_ an in-house masseuse over there." Chloe told her. "And - and correct me if I'm wrong - my very best friend in the world supposedly can be found there."

"I can confirm the spa and the masseuse," Aubrey answered. "That best friend can be elusive, though. And kind of a bitch."

"'Kind of'?" Chloe repeated with dull incredulity.

"Still so funny." Aubrey replied. "Yes. Absolutely. Consider it my graduation gift."

"What? No. I want an actual gift." Chloe protested. "Why are you being a cheapskate?"

"I have to pay for Harvard." Aubrey reminded. "And _your_ graduation present to _me_ was a scrapbook of our time together in Barden."

"Yeah, because unlike _some people_ who owns her own corporate retreat, I hadn't quit a six-figure annual salary to scam companies into paying for a bunch of team-building exercises." Chloe shot back.

"Does it even matter it was on the lower end of six-figures?" Aubrey asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you from all the ka-ching sounds that follow your voice." Chloe joked, imitating a cash register.

Aubrey scoffed. "We can't all be do-gooders who are content with being karmically rewarded by wanting to teach underprivileged children."

"We are the world, Aubrey." Chloe quipped. "We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving." She stopped singing. "And by that, I mean, you should give me stuff."

"Uh huh. Like what?"

"I hear diamonds are a girl's best friend."

"Yes, uncut diamonds that sell in the black market are awesome trades for best friends." Aubrey agreed. "You just might get to become an exotic dancer, after all."

"You can't be mean to me, you're missing my graduation."

"So if I don't miss your graduation, I can be mean to you?"

"You can't be mean to me at all." Chloe pouted.

Aubrey laughed.

"How's your catastrophe going?" Chloe asked.

"It's being handled, I'm sure." Aubrey replied.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "You're not supervising?"

"I've been told that some of my methods of supervision can be... counter-productive." Aubrey admitted.

"I could have told you that."

"And as I recall, you have." Aubrey returned. "Repeatedly."

"Just saying."

"Uh huh." Aubrey paused, and Chloe could hear some weird sounds on Aubrey's end. Like... a car door?

"You OK?"

"Other than the fact that some idiots thought they could mess with the wiring of one of my cabins so they can hack the wifi? I'm fine." Aubrey answered. "And, by the way, when you do come over for your graduation/victory R&R, ask me for the wifi hotspot that works, because we scramble most of them during the day."

Chloe gasped. "Is that why none of us were getting our emails? Or sending status updates?"

"You were supposed to be building teamwork skills, Chloe, not catching up on social media." Aubrey reminded. "Open your door."

"What?"

"Open the front door, Chloe."

"Why?"

Aubrey sighed in exasperation. "Why do you think? Open your door."

"Do you have breakfast?"

"Open the door and find out."

"I don't know, Aubrey, the girls are sleeping and I don't feel comfortable opening the door alone."

"But you can keep your front door unlocked?"

Chloe turned quickly, and squealed an unholy, almost unnatural sound - especially given her node-removal surgery three years ago - and scrambled over the couch so she could jump into the blonde's arms. "What are you doing here?"

"It's your graduation, silly." Aubrey reminded. She shrugged. "And Stacie's, so between the two of you, I didn't really have much of a choice."

"But... The Lodge...?"

Aubrey shook her head. "Some idiots tried to rig the wifi. I left them to deal with it."

Chloe beamed. "You're here!"

"Yes. And," Aubrey grabbed Chloe's hand, and pulled her in the direction of the entryway of the house, where she had placed some bags. She pointed at a group of grease-stained paper bags. "Breakfast."

Chloe had tears in her eyes and freely flowing down her cheeks, refusing to let go of her death grip on Aubrey's hand. "Is it pie?"

"Of course it's pie." Aubrey said softly, well aware that this was Chloe's version of managing her emotions, focusing on something trivial to prevent others from becoming uncomfortable, even though Aubrey could see she was already crying. She squeezed Chloe's hand, despite Chloe's crushing hold. "I wouldn't forget pie."

It was a small thing, but it spoke of the duration and depth of their friendship: When Aubrey had still been in Barden, one of their favorite things to do was to drive around the limits of Georgia, looking for the best food and dessert there was to find, and Chloe's favorite thing to try in all the shops they found was their pie. For them, it was a few hours away from the pressure and expectation of being in college, and it was a hobby that had fallen by the wayside when Aubrey became obsessed with winning the ICCAs.

After finishing half of a cherry pie and stocking the fridge with the rest of Chloe's pastry bounty, she led a half-awake Aubrey back to her room despite the blonde's protests. Garment bag hung, Chloe sat on her bed and watched Aubrey sit on the edge of Stacie's bed to pull off her shoes. Her amusement when Stacie, even asleep, automatically moved aside to accommodate the blonde, was evident even to the sleepy entrepreneur.

"Shut up." Aubrey said simply in regards to Chloe's amusement, squinting at her phone to set an alarm. "I have to get some stuff from the school office, remind me to do that before the ceremony."

"I can't believe you're here."

Aubrey glanced up at her. "Where else would I be?"

Chloe grinned, and settled back in her own bed, hugging her pillow and facing the opposite bed. Then: "Aubrey?"

Aubrey answered with a sleepy murmur.

"You forgot my graduation gift."

Aubrey cracked one eye open to glare balefully at her, before reaching for the coat she'd unceremoniously dropped to the floor beside Stacie's bed, and pulled out a thin, bright blue square box. "Three years later."

Chloe stared at the box, not touching it. "Is that-?"

"Not uncut diamonds." Aubrey waved the box, prompting Chloe to claim it.

Chloe looked up at her. "This is..."

"Also _not_ a scrapbook of pictures." Aubrey nodded. "And less valuable."

"And you bought this three years ago?" Chloe asked, finally taking the box. She glanced at it, then back at Aubrey.

Aubrey yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "I had a job offer. Savings. And good memories to leave Barden with, thanks to you."

Chloe lifted the lid, and opened the bracelet pouch, and she smiled at the two charms on the silver bracelet: one a small disc with the letter B in elegant script, and the other a graduation cap. She glanced back at Aubrey, who had curled up into Stacie as if she belonged there. "Not to be ungrateful, because this is aca-awesome, but what did you get your girlfriend?"

"A shared apartment in Boston, she can deal without the bright blue box." Aubrey mumbled.

Stacie sat up quickly, suddenly wide-awake, and jostling the half-asleep Aubrey. "Who's getting Tiffany's when I'm not?"

Seemingly on auto-pilot, Aubrey grabbed her coat again, and handed another blue box to her bed partner. Then she threw her coat at Chloe, who didn't bother hiding her mirth. "Let me sleep."

Stacie paused and glanced down at Aubrey. "If I open this, how likely is it that we'll cause Chloe psychological damage?"

"Very."

Stacie placed the box under her pillow, and lay back down on her bed, wrapping an arm around the blonde.

Chloe paused for a moment, then: "Aubrey?"

"I love you too. Shut up, let me sleep."

Chloe grinned, and settled back into bed.

If the start of the day was any indication of how the day ahead was going to unfold, graduation was suddenly something she was looking forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics borrowed from "We Are the World", written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson.


	3. Nothing Could Measure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Graduation: Aubrey and Stacie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's gratuitous implied sex, and mentions of BDSM, but nothing graphic, which is the only reason tagging it as M would be a lie. But it's actually more fluff than anything.

Aubrey jerked awake to a question.

She paused, considered her surroundings, and once she had reconciled her environment and remembered why she was there, eased her head back onto her pillow, and tried to go back to sleep.

Except her phone insisted on being heard.

Aubrey groaned, and reached out for where she recalled last placing her phone, willing it to stop before she could touch it.

Luckily — or not — a slim hand reached out from behind her, grabbed the offending device, and answered it. "Ms. Posen's phone. No, I'm sorry, she can't take a call right now. May I take a message? Oh, is that so? We're sorry to hear that. We hope they didn't cause any problems on your end. Of course. Yes. Happy to oblige. I will communicate that to Ms. Posen. Have a good day to you too."

Aubrey giggled into her pillow. "So I'm the cliché that sleeps with the woman who answers my phone."

"To be fair," Stacie replied, placing the phone back on her bedside table and pressing closer to Aubrey, "We were sleeping together long before I was answering your phone."

"So now it's nepotism." Aubrey grinned, reaching behind her to grab the back of Stacie's neck and pulling her closer, turning her head to meet Stacie's lips in a kiss.

"As long as it's not sexual harassment." Stacie replied, pulling back slightly to allow Aubrey to turn and lay flat on her back. She leaned down, brushing their lips together, before she broke the kiss to smile at the blonde. "Hi."

"Hi." Aubrey returned, smiling back.

"So that wasn't a dream."

"Which part?"

"You in my bed."

"Guess not."

"Could get used to this." Stacie noted, resting on her side so she could prop her head up with one arm, while the other held Aubrey across her hip. "Very used to this."

Aubrey ran her hand over the arm Stacie held across her body. "You have a minimum of two years to get used to this."

"And the maximum?"

Aubrey lifted her eyes from Stacie's collar to meet her gaze, and they held the heated gaze for a long moment before they covered the gap between them to communicate what they did not yet have the words for, expressing the sentiment instead with lips and mouths and tongue, pressing closer together while keeping the level of their passion at a low simmer. Technically, they _were_ still banned from having sex in the house.

(Although, seriously, it was _one_ time.)

(Actually multiple times in one stretch of time, but Stacie was sure the other people in the house weren't big with the details and calculations.)

Aubrey abruptly broke the kiss, and threw a glance over her shoulder over at Chloe's bed, and sighed in relief when she saw it was empty.

"She's been singing some 80's rock song about pies the whole morning." Stacie told her. "You have something to do with that?"

"I brought her pies." Aubrey answered.

Stacie arched an eyebrow.

"It's a long story," Aubrey added, turning to angle her body against Stacie's, and wrapped one arm around her waist, her hand drifting up Stacie's back. "I've missed you."

"When the hell did we become _that_ couple?" Stacie asked curiously, relaxing her arm so she could rest her head next to Aubrey's. "I've missed you too. And… not that I'm complaining, because, you know, Aubrey Posen on my bed, but you're about a couple of hours early from when you said you'd be here."

Aubrey groaned. "Idiots."

Stacie paused, her gaze flickering over to Aubrey's phone. "That's what that phone call was about? One of your clients fired two of his management trainees on your recommendation."

"I recommended disciplinary action, and subject to review after a remedial period." Aubrey corrected. "But if they got fired, after damage to property, their behavior the whole week, and not to mention their harassment of several of my female employees; they're lucky all they got was fired."

"So you thought, 'I'll drive a couple hundred miles to Georgia in the middle of the night to get away from these idiots'?" Stacie asked, frowning. "Do I even start with how unsafe that is?"

Aubrey paused, knowing there was little she could say to defend such foolhardy actions, so she went with her strengths: "I love you?"

Stacie rolled her eyes. "You're lucky I love you too, because you're part-idiot."

"Hey now, I got into Harvard." Aubrey protested. " _And_ UCLA."

"I got into MIT."

Aubrey laughed suddenly, causing Stacie to frown.

"What? If we're debating academic success—"

"I got into MIT too."

Stacie stared at her. "Shut the front door."

"It was a whim, Sloan's a top-ranked business school, I thought, why not try?"

"And you got in?"

"Please, with the surprise." Aubrey drawled. "Shocked me too, to be honest."

Stacie frowned. "So why Harvard?"

"Because if we both end up in MIT for graduate school we'd have access each other's schools and probably be defiling its halls all the time, which, while fun, probably the best way to get expelled."

Stacie paused to consider, and sighed. "We _would_ be skirting controversy if we had sex in the halls."

"Plus the waste of tuition, which is fine for you, Miss Partial Scholarship, and do we really want to deprive Barden of any future chance of its students ever being accepted into MIT just because we can't keep our hands off each other?"

"So now you're thinking of future generations?"

"I'm still thinking of having sex with you in the hallways of MIT, which is making me think of sex with you in general, but…"

Stacie bit her lower lip, her eyes darting to the door of the room she shared with Chloe. She turned back to Aubrey, and gave her a quick kiss. "We could risk it."

"Have you ever noticed how, for a nationally-awarded singing group, the Bellas have the worst sense of timing?" Aubrey asked, sharing a series of kisses before she reached up to cup Stacie's jaw to hold her close, trading in their playful kisses as she parted her lips in an invitation for closer and deeper, and Stacie responded eagerly, moving to lay on top of Aubrey and thrilled when she felt Aubrey's hands on her back drift to slip under the tank she had worn to bed, pulling her even closer.

Stacie's left hand slowly drifted up Aubrey's side, brushing closer to—

"Hey, it's getting late you should— goddamnit!" The door opened and closed in quick succession, startling them both, and they could hear Beca holler just outside the door. "Did you nerdfaces know Aubrey was in there?"

Aubrey searched the ceiling for answers, hoping to calm the heat on her face and the overall flush in her body, ignoring Stacie's amused giggling against her neck. "I told you."

Stacie moved up, and gleefully pecked Aubrey's lips. "You're so red."

"I'm going to be so happy when we don't have to worry about Bellas interrupting us."

"Shut up, you know you miss them."

"I miss _you_. And Chloe." Aubrey corrected.

"Really? Ten of us, and we only have a twenty percent success rate with Aubrey Posen?" Stacie teased.

She paused and considered. "Maybe Cynthia Rose, when she's not ogling you or giving me high-fives. Probably Lilly, when she's not being a creeper. Ashley and Jessica, since they're a package deal, when they're not cowering away from me in fear."

"Mm. Yeah. You're scary when you go dragonlady on us." Stacie agreed. She winked at the blonde. "Hot, though."

Aubrey gave her a wry look. "But I feel like Flo's constantly trolling everybody with her comments, and Emily thinks I'm this fun, awesome person."

"You _are_ a fun, awesome person." Stacie countered. "She and I have different ideas of how 'fun' you are, though…"

"Fat Amy still feels like she a thousand degrees of personality, and honestly, that's fine, that's fun for like a day, maybe two, but not all the time."

"She's not always like that, you know." Stacie pointed out.

"I guess." Aubrey conceded, then fell silent.

Stacie arched an eyebrow. "Really? No opinion on Beca?"

"So many opinions on Beca." Aubrey muttered.

"She told me about your talk back at The Lodge." Stacie told her.

Aubrey sighed, and looked at Stacie.

"She looks up to you, you know." Stacie informed.

"I find that hard to believe."

Stacie pressed her hand on Aubrey's sternum to keep her still. "Have you seriously not noticed that she's found a way to talk to you every time you came to see me here?"

"Yeah, but that's because she knew Chloe and I weren't really on speaking terms, which—"

"Aubrey, Beca's not someone who asks anyone for help. Ever. And she's asked you for advice time and again." Stacie reminded. "I know you think some of your problems with Chloe have to do with Beca, and you want to just cover her mouth and keep her from even talking, often and not in the fun way, but…"

"Really? BDSM?" Aubrey asked warily, interrupting.

"Love is great, love is fine, out the box, out of line; the affliction of the feeling leaves me wanting more." Stacie sang softly, her wicked grin belying the gentleness of her voice. She winked. "You've never thought of tying me up?"

Aubrey blinked, her brain a momentary blank, before she shook her head to get it started again. "We're gonna have to put a pin on that."

"I love that I can get you to let your freak flag fly." Stacie said huskily, licking Aubrey's lips.

Aubrey cleared her throat, mouth suddenly dry. "Um…"

"We were talking about Beca." Stacie reminded.

"Totally the last thing on my mind right now."

Stacie chuckled, tracing Aubrey's jaw with her lips. "Want to try what we were trying to do earlier again?"

"What?" Why was logic so difficult?

"Want to try morning sex again?"

"The door's still unlocked."

"They're college-educated young women. They should know better." Stacie husked, licking a path up the side of Aubrey's neck, and was rewarded with a whimper. Then she played dirty, whispering into Aubrey's ear, "I love the feeling you bring to me. Oh, you turn me on, it's exactly what I've been yearning for—"

Aubrey's thin thread of control snapped, and she flipped them over so that Stacie was on her back, and kissed her hungrily. Her hands slipped under Stacie's tank top, and drifted up to cup her breasts. Stacie hooked her leg over Aubrey's hip, pulling her closer, shamelessly grinding against the blonde.

"So impatient." Aubrey teased, taking a playful bite on Stacie's bottom lip.

"So eager to come." Stacie corrected.

Aubrey quirked an eyebrow, but dutifully obliged, starting to drift her lips lower, trailing kisses down Stacie's body.

Stacie's hand moved to grip her pillow, trying to grab purchase, when her hand came in contact with something under her pillow. Suddenly distracted, she grabbed the object, and pulled out a thin blue box. "What's–"

"I thought that was obv—" Aubrey began, but stopped suddenly when she looked up and saw what Stacie held in her hands. She sat up, sitting on her haunches, still straddling Stacie. "Before you open that…"

Stacie looked up at her, still momentarily in shock that her imaginary scenario of falling asleep beside Aubrey with a Tiffany box under her pillow had not been a sleep-induced hallucination. The Aubrey part was a given, because she had been expected to show for Stacie and Chloe's graduation ceremony, but jewelry? She slowly sat up, so she could be at eye level with Aubrey.

Aubrey licked her lips, unsure of how to proceed. She took a deep breath, and started talking. "I lost touch with Chloe, when I graduated. I lost touch with all of you, let's be honest. And that's… that's on me, that was my fault. And for a long time, I made the concerted effort to be… I don't know, someone else? Someone successful, who can be as ambitious as I could be and be unapologetic about it. Be someone better, although 'better' is debatable at this point. But you showed up, out of nowhere, and reminded me who I was, who I could be, and I just wanted to give you something, to show you how much I appreciate it."

"That was two years ago."

"I'm getting there." Aubrey laughed softly, and her gaze landed on the box. "I'm awful, at giving gifts. My mom used to tell me it's the thought that counts, and then my dad just gave me an envelope with cash in it, and then Chloe… Chloe puts together these well-thought, deliberately-chosen, elaborate presents, and it always feels like I'm buying people's affection."

Stacie's gaze shadowed, understanding for the first time why Aubrey was so hesitant about gifts, why she was obsessed about gift registries and wishlists, why she watched Stacie like a hawk whenever they were out shopping, while they browsed bookstores or record shops. "Aubrey."

Aubrey reached forward, and tapped the blue box with the tip of her finger. "But I saw this, and I thought of you. But then the saleslady told me my girlfriend would love it, and that was back when we weren't… really together, not the way we are now, and I chickened out. So I got you those Coachella backstage passes instead."

"That was a good time." Stacie offered feebly. Because now she was worried that she was going to open the box to find an elaborate diamond-studded piece of jewelry, and she loved Aubrey, she did, but…

Aubrey smiled wryly, knowing what Stacie was trying to do. "Anyway. I was in New York for a meeting, and I thought… anyway." She tapped the box one last time, before she pulled her hand back, and let Stacie decide whether or not to open it.

Stacie looked up at her. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yes…?"

"I don't need a Tiffany…" Stacie paused, not knowing what kind of jewelry she held.

"Necklace."

"I don't need a Tiffany necklace, no matter the reasons why, despite whatever I might have said while I was delirious from sleep."

Aubrey smiled. "I know. Just like I know I didn't need to buy Chloe a charm bracelet three years ago. I think I'm finally figuring this 'thought that counts' business."

Stacie looked at her for a long moment, then lifted the lid of the box, but Aubrey suddenly stalled her hand. She looked up at Aubrey questioningly.

"Please remember I hadn't intended to buy it as a graduation present, and it might clash with your graduation gown."

Stacie gave her a wry glare, and proceeded to extract the necklace from its pouch. She lifted the thin, rose-gold necklace in her hand, gazing at the pendant that hung on the chain. She glanced at Aubrey.

"It's an S, I swear." Aubrey said quickly. She, too, had looked doubtfully at the abstract letter S script that looked suspiciously like an A when she'd seen it in the store. "I'm possessive, but branding your significant other's just tacky."

"I'm suddenly deathly afraid of losing this necklace." Stacie admitted. "You couldn't wait until we got to Boston?"

"Okay, let me just—" Amused, Aubrey reached over to get the box and necklace, but Stacie moved both away from her.

"Put it on?" Stacie requested, handing the necklace over and turning, holding her hair up to let Aubrey place the necklace around her neck. "This clashes with the gown, too."

"Like I said." Aubrey reminded, securing the clasp, and avoiding the temptation of letting her touch linger on the back of Stacie's neck, or her shoulder.

Once done, Stacie glanced down. It _was_ pretty, even if she had already decided to put it away for safekeeping at least until she and Aubrey were settled in Boston. She glanced over her shoulder at Aubrey, and smiled mischievously. "It can be an A."

In the kitchen, nine young women looked up at the telltale sounds coming from the floor above them.

Chloe, previously singing about how grown men cry over pecan pie, rolled her eyes. Clearly, Aubrey and Stacie had decided they would ignore the ban on their activities while they were under the Bellas' roof. She turned to the rest of the Bellas. "Come on. I'll buy breakfast."

Aubrey can owe her later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics borrowed from Rihanna's S&M.


	4. We're Living In Different Ways

When it came to keeping her opinions to herself, Aubrey was trying. Really.

She kept her gaze on the magazine on her lap, trying to pretend like she hadn't already read the same publication nearly a dozen times (or more), but she could feel the excitement actually reverberating from the girl on the opposite end of the couch from her.

Aubrey pursed her lips, her focus on her magazine so thorough as if she didn't already know what was happening behind the scenes of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and how many of them had actually survived their series' respective finales.

"I can't believe everyone's graduating," Emily finally blurted out, unable to contain herself. "This is so exciting!" She caught herself, and smiled apologetically at Aubrey. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little excited."

Having already graduated three years previous and having lived a rollercoaster of a life in the years after her graduation, Aubrey didn't really know how to respond to Emily's outburst. But she _was_ excited, and not just a little, because Stacie was graduating and they had actual plans for the next part of their lives.

And Chloe finally graduated, which kind of gave everything a bittersweet flavor to Aubrey, because the matter of her graduation had been the root cause of so much of their erstwhile alienation from each other.

"I hope I'll have friends as awesome as the Bellas when I graduate," Emily continued, and then paused. "I'm going to need to make friends."

That caught Aubrey's attention, and she glanced over at the younger girl in curiosity. "You don't have friends?"

Emily scrunched up her face. "I mean, I have friends."

Aubrey tilted her head to the side, inquiringly.

"Like, you know, Benji, and Jesse, and stuff. The Bellas."

Aubrey quirked an eyebrow.

Emily laughed uncomfortably. "I've been spending most of my time when I'm not in class with the Bellas. That's normal, right?"

Aubrey wasn't sure, because as a freshman, she'd been gifted with an awesome roommate named Chloe Beale who dragged her to all the events she insisted were essential to their college experience, and she'd been all but adopted by the then-graduating members of the Barden Bellas who taught her the important things she would need to know for college, so she'd gotten the best of both worlds at the time.

And in that moment, she pitied Emily a little, because she had joined a group of Barden Bellas who have been more or less a complete unit for three years, who have been through college as a collective that whole time; add to the fact that they had all been consumed by the need for a cappella redemption, and Emily couldn't possibly have had the best freshman year she could have asked for.

Aubrey exhaled. "Do you have pen and paper?"

Emily furrowed her brow in confusion, but nodded.

"Write this down." Aubrey ordered, and the minute Emily had pen and paper in hand, Aubrey listed some of the more important things she figured Emily would benefit from knowing as a Barden student, with the caveat that some of her knowledge could be outdated. She enumerated the places that had free food, and other free entertainment throughout campus, and where the vending machines with good selections were; which places were well-lit even at odd hours of night, which places to avoid like the plague; who to talk to if she wanted studio time in the Arts and Music building, how to ensure she got access to any rehearsal space on campus; the names of the people who helped with the maintenance of the Bellas' house, and who to call for help, especially on things pertaining to the house.

When she was done, Emily stared at her and then at the things in her notebook. "Wow."

"Yeah." Aubrey agreed, remembering her own wide-eyed reaction when her then-captain and her friends had first argued among themselves on what they should first teach their freshman protégée. She had always regretted that she'd been so focused on the ICCAs and getting back to the finals and hopefully beating The Treblemakers when she'd been a college senior that she hadn't taken the opportunity to teach the then-freshman Bellas under her care anything her own captain and senior Bellas had taught her. She'd taught some of what she knew to Stacie, and Stacie in turn had coerced her and Chloe from imparting some of their shared knowledge, but Aubrey knew she could have done a better job.

She also knew Chloe and Beca and the rest of the graduating Bellas had tried their best with Emily, but some things just took precedence; hopefully Emily would manage on her own when she had to build a whole new set of Barden Bellas for next year.

"You know you can get non-freshmen to audition for the Bellas, right?" Aubrey asked.

Emily glanced at her.

"You're going to need other girls who aren't freshmen to help you, when you're captain." Aubrey advised. "Get at least a few who'll also be sophomores like you. Maybe one or two third years, to help with the wrangling. But don't let them forget that you're the captain."

Emily started giggling. "I'm the Bella captain."

Aubrey stared at her, a little annoyed that her serious advice was being giggled at – she knew Emily was a giggly, giddy mess almost all the time, but this was ridiculous – and inwardly sighed. She glanced at her watch, and stood up. "I'm gonna check on Stacie."

Before Emily could say anything, Aubrey was gone, and she did just that, climbing up the stairs to check on the girls who were supposed to be changing out of their graduation ceremony wear to get ready for the graduation party off-campus.

When she entered the room Stacie and Chloe shared, Aubrey was greeted with a full-body tackle-hug from Chloe. And a redhead shouting into her ear, "I graduated!"

"You did!" Aubrey returned, laughing.

Chloe pressed her palms to Aubrey's cheeks, squishing her face in her hands. "You owe me a round of drinks at the party tonight." She released Aubrey, and left the room, leaving Aubrey grumbling in her wake.

Aubrey rubbed her cheeks, feeling a little raw. "That was unnecessary."

"She's excited." Stacie told her.

Aubrey turned to her, and found herself smiling as she approached Stacie. "Hey, you."

Stacie smiled back, happily welcoming the kiss Aubrey gave her and wrapping her arms around Aubrey's waist. "I just saw you."

"I know."

Stacie grinned into their kiss, and while a part of her worried that it would be so easy for both of them to escalate their easy intimacy and miss the party altogether, a larger part of her just didn't care, and even wanted it to happen.

"Ease up lovebirds, we have a party to go to!" Fat Amy hollered, banging her hand against the open bedroom door to catch their attention, and earning matching scowls from the couple.

Stacie sighed, and pecked Aubrey's lips as she eased off. "To be continued."

 

* * *

 

"Borrowing," was all Chloe said before she clamped her hand on Aubrey's wrist and pulled her away from the dance floor where she'd been dancing with Stacie. Aubrey looked over her shoulder at Stacie, but the girl only waved back, before finding Jessica and Ashley and dancing with them.

Aubrey followed Chloe to the open bar of the hotel ballroom the Barden graduates had booked for the party, and frowned when Chloe ordered them four rounds of shots. "You said I owed you a round."

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, grinning at her, the wide grin the most telling sign that Chloe was ahead of her in the drinking game. "For each of my graduation years."

Aubrey blinked at her, because surely she was kidding? They were in a hotel, yes, but Aubrey wasn't even sure there were still rooms left available during graduation season in the area, not to mention someone would probably have to wrangle the Bellas at the end of the night. She glanced over at the bartender, and she seemed to take pity on her, watering down Aubrey's half of the shots while Chloe wasn't looking.

Chloe turned back as their drinks were served, and after the first shot, she gave Aubrey a serious look. "I meant to tell you earlier," she started, "I'm sorry I didn't stick around for the party when you graduated."

Aubrey blushed, because despite Chloe's absence on her own graduation party three years ago, the night had actually worked out for her. Mostly thanks to Stacie. But she wasn't about to tell Chloe that.

"I didn't even realize it was at this same hotel," Chloe noted, glancing around.

"Different ballroom." Aubrey informed her.

Chloe turned back to her. "I should've been there."

"Well, we're here now," Aubrey reminded, and lifted her next shot, prompting Chloe to do the same. She smiled at the redhead. "And you finally graduated."

"Finally?" Chloe repeated jokingly.

"Finally." Aubrey confirmed, drinking the shot. Even diluted, she could feel the alcohol, and knew for certain Chloe was going to regret this in the morning. But taking advantage of Chloe's inebriation, she hazarded, "Chloe?"

"Yeah?" Chloe asked, chasing the previous shot with another one, leaving Aubrey a shot behind.

"What are you going to do about Beca?"

"What _am_ I going to do about Beca?" Chloe returned, handing Aubrey her shot. "Drink."

Aubrey pouted at the delay, but did as ordered.

Chloe glanced over Aubrey's shoulder, and when Aubrey turned, saw Beca seated at one of the tables the Bellas have co-opted as their own, with her boyfriend with her. Aubrey turned back to Chloe to look at her questioningly.

"They're planning to move to LA together." Chloe confided. "But Beca got a job offer from Residual Heat, so I don't know what's going to happen."

"That doesn't answer my—"

"There's a moment, right?" Chloe interrupted, picking up the last shot and biting the corner of her lower lip pensively. "When you grow up or stay where you are, or something?"

Aubrey nodded.

Chloe smiled wryly at her. "I haven't decided yet."

But the fact that Chloe was aware of it said plenty.

Aubrey picked up her own shot glass, and tapped it lightly with Chloe's. "Happy graduation."

Chloe smiled at her, and for a moment Aubrey almost wished they'd had this moment three years ago. Almost. "Happy graduation, Bree."

And then she turned and ordered a round of shots for the Bellas.

 

* * *

 

Stacie took one look at her girlfriend's flushed features and concluded, "You're drunk."

"I'm inebriated," Aubrey corrected, taking the seat beside Stacie at the table having followed Chloe to the set of tables the Bellas were occupying. Chloe had figured out early in their friendship that the key to work around Aubrey's alcohol tolerance was to mix her drinks, and she had done exactly that while they had waited at the bar.

But at least she wasn't as drunk as Chloe.

Behind them, a different bartender carried a round of shots for the Bellas.

"What's this?" Fat Amy asked, intrigued, joining the group.

"Drunk Bellas. My kind of party." Bumper declared, making Aubrey shoot him a glare, which then prompted Jesse to stand up, followed by Benji, and the two of them dragged Bumper away.

"We're doing shots," Chloe announced, a little unnecessarily, and Stacie shot Aubrey a concerned look, since it was obvious both she and Chloe were two sheets to the wind already.

"It's fine," Aubrey assured her, since she'd already sent word to one of her older friends in Barden that she and the rest of the Bellas would be needing a ride. Kevin, used to such weird requests, had confirmed the time she'd requested. She just hoped the text she had hurriedly sent him was actually coherent and he hadn't just been indulging the mess of a text message.

Stacie shrugged, and took the glass Lilly handed her, and smiled when both Aubrey and Emily were each given their own.

"What are we toasting?" Cynthia Rose asked, once everyone had a shot glass in hand.

Everyone turned to Beca, as their de facto leader and captain.  Beca, in turn, glanced at Chloe and Aubrey.

"To what comes next." Chloe said, glancing at Aubrey briefly before returning her attention to Beca.

"To the future," Aubrey agreed. The look she gave Beca indicated she had to say something of her own.

"Uh, graduation?" Beca surmised.

"And to Worlds!" Emily exclaimed, unable to contain herself.

"We're so kicking German ass at Worlds," Fat Amy announced.

"We're totes winning Worlds." Chloe agreed, and after the year they've had, nobody was going to argue with Chloe on that point.

Beca cleared her throat, earning her the attention of all the Barden Bellas.

"Bellas for life."

 

 

 

 


End file.
